STEAM WHALERS 
375 
batant has to take his place; all the rest are away after 
plunder. Now a full boat is making its way to the ship. 
We steam towards her. As we near, the engines are 
stopped and she glides alongside. The cook or the 
steward rushes from the look-out, the doctor from the 
wheel, one working the steam-winch and the other un- 
switching the skins, while the boat's crew swallow a 
hasty meal. The boat being unloaded, they are off again 
for another fill. Another boat is seen approaching, and 
away we go again, dodging this piece of ice, charging 
that piece with our sturdy bows, boring a way where the 
ice lies closely packed, rounding this berg, and on to the 
next until we reach the boat, which is down to the gun- 
wale in the water, with its crew cautiously plying their 
oars as they lie crouched upon their bloody load. So it 
goes on from day to day.” 
In such conditions exploration was out of the ques- 
tion; if the ships could be filled in 63° S. the captains 
would never dream of going to 64°. The Active how- 
ever was more fortunate than the Balsena. Captain 
Robertson had more than once done a bit of exploration 
in the little known fjords of East Greenland, and he 
turned the eye of an explorer on the coast of Joinville 
Land. The southern part he found to be separated 
from the northern and he named it Dundee Island ; it lies 
on the north side of Erebus and Terror Gulf. The 
channel between the two islands was navigated by the 
Active, which left her name on a reef where she grounded 
and whence she happily escaped uninjured. A landing 
was made on a beach on the south side of Joinville Land 
where the snow had melted away, and it was seen that 
the ice-cap of the island and that of Louis Philippe Land 
would be easily accessible from the shore. Dr. Donald 
